home done performance alignment

[dusterbd13]

well, im finally going to start working on my duster again.

its got a mostly stock based suspension, only real difference being the adjustable strut rods.

i have been doing my own alignments on mcpherson strut cars and GM shim style cars for a while now. not used to eccentrics and strut rods.

few questions:
1. what specs should I shoot for? i was thinking 3/4 degree negative camber, 4 or 5 degress positive caster, and zero toe. what do you think? the reason i picked this is thats what i have in my truck right now, and i love it.

2. whats the procedure for this alinment? im thinking: set camber with eccentrics, then caster with the strut rods, finishing up with toe. do i have to worry about ride height being exactly equal side to side, or is 1/4 inch acceptable?

thanks for any help and advice you can pass my way.

Michael

 

[KitCarlson]

The strut rods are fixed. The caster is adjusted with the eccentrics, they adjust at front and rear, it is also intermixed with camber. The upper ball joint moves forward if the front eccentric is moves the "A" in and the rear is moved out. If both are moved in then you get negative camber. For me it takes a series of small adjustments followed by free rolling the car to then measure setting and try again. Also toe-in can change too!
If all is set correctly these cars handle great!

The torsion bar height is measured at the control arm points, not the body.

 

[dusterbd13]

thanks for the measurement point. i had been using the body.

i had also swapped to the american muscle adjustable strut rods when i redid the car, just never messed with them. thats why i was thinking about using those to set the caster instead of the eccentrics. just use the eccentrics to set camber.

 

[KitCarlson]

I think if you use the strut rods to adjust caster, the suspension bushing in the upper and lower control arms will be stressed. Might bind up the suspension movements.

 

[NC Engine Builder]

IMHO adjustable strut rods are sold mostly to remove excess green backs from your pocket!!! Seriously, anything you do to bind the suspension is bad. Your adjustment will be in the upper cams. You probally wont be able to get alot of positive caster with the stock setup. Moog makes an ofset upper controll arm bushing to get more out of it. This car has big torsion bars, tube uppers, and STOCK strut rods and bushings. We come out of this corner at about 80 on slicks. Works great.